


A Helping Hand

by IReallyNeedOne



Category: mark fischbach - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: F/M, YouTube
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-06-09 00:33:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6882163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IReallyNeedOne/pseuds/IReallyNeedOne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A chance meeting brought Mark and Ashley together. The two became fast friends and Ashley helps Mark keep his life organized. After Matt & Ryan, Mark's friends post a sketch video featuring the two of them and an interesting trip to Boston will they be the last to realize there's more to their relationship than a strictly professional one?</p><p> </p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Breakfast

Most days Ashley was able to sleep in until eight or nine before starting her day. She awoke this morning to a phone’s overly cheerful alarm, to a beautiful spring morning.

“What’cha got for me today?” She asked herself while thumbing through the notifications that accumulated on her phone overnight. 

“Ok, no emergencies, good. I’ve got time for coffee before crazy starts.” Ashley answered her own question as she crawled out of the comfort of the sun filled bed. 

She padded over to a closet to pick clothes for the day. The twenty nine-year old picked a white sleeveless blouse and a yellow and blue floral printed pencil skirt. Even though she worked from home most days she still tried to keep an air of professionalism about her wardrobe, she never knew who she would be in contact with. She zipped the back of her skirt then, made her way to the vanity to run a brush through the long brown hair down her back and finished getting ready for the day. She grabbed her phone and planner and bounced downstairs. 

The professional looking woman wouldn’t call herself a personal assistant, nor would her boss. She proclaimed herself a one woman chaos prevention unit, during one particularly crazy week, it stuck. Though, that didn’t sound very professional during business calls or introductions so, assistant it was. 

After trying to prevent chaos from across town in her own studio apartment for six months, it was decided in a whirlwind that she was to just move into the house she spent most of her time at. It has indeed made things a lot easier.

As she entered the sunny kitchen, she spotted her boss on the deck sipping coffee, still in what he slept in, enjoying the morning sun before it got too hot. After filling her own mug, she stepped barefoot onto the warm tile.

“Need me to add anything to the day?” Ashley asked, bringing her boss out of a thought. 

“Mmm, don’t think so.” He responded. “It’s been almost a year and I still can’t believe I have someone to help plan my days and you haven’t run for the hills.”

“We’re already on top of a hill, you’ll have to push me off the deck to get rid of me.” She laughed. “I feel like most days I need to pry tasks from your hands. There’s no reason you need to be fielding phone calls while recording, it makes you forget to eat.”

Ashley’s boss, which she was still uncomfortable calling him, was Mark Fischbach. A let’s player on YouTube named Markiplier with quite the following. She wasn’t looking to become an assistant nor was he looking to hire one, it just sort of happened. 

 

~~~~Eleven Months Earlier~~~~

Ashley was sitting at a busy cafe eating lunch over a very color coordinated chart and timeline for the wedding she was designing the flowers for when she was interrupted.

“Wow, I wish part of my daily life was as organized as that binder!” A man's voice proclaimed.

She looked up over her reading glasses expecting to just crack a smile and go back to checking which distributor had the specific rose variety she was looking for, but there was something about this guy that made her want to speak to him. It must have been his kind eyes and the fact he was really pulling off the bright blue hair sitting on top of his head. Plus he looked to be about her age, maybe a bit younger. It was hard finding genuine people to talk to in Los Angeles.

“Brides are crazy, always gotta be prepared.” Ashley smiled 

“Oh man, I would have no idea about that, anything like the movies?” The blue haired man continued the conversation. 

“Eh, most of them are cool, but sometimes man… they snap!” she wrinkled my nose. He laughed. “Hey, it super packed in here do you want to sit across from me so there aren’t two of us taking up space enough for four people? Or are you with someone?”

“Just me, you don’t mind?” he asked and pulled the aluminum chair from the table to sit across from me. “I’m Mark by the way.” he extended his hand.

“Ashley, nice to meet you.” she shook his hand. “I need a bit of a distraction from this” closing the binder in front of her to make room “I’m starting to burn out on flowers”

The fast friends talked for some time over their lunches, talked about how they both ended up in Los Angeles, what he did for a living and how crazy he thought it was. Somehow a joke was made about how he needed an assistant to keep his shit together on a daily basis and one thing led to another and he realized maybe it wasn’t such a crazy idea. Then it happened, the very organized florist volunteered. Just to try it out for a month, to see if it would really help. That way he’d maybe be able to focus more on the content for his channel and having fun and less on finding contact information for the charities he was working with, and have another set of eyes to look over emails to make sure he wasn’t missing anything.

A phone’s notification chirp interrupted the conversation, it was Mark’s.

“Crap, it’s two in the afternoon? I have to be in Santa Monica at 2:30! I guess I really do need you to help me” He laughed and stood up stretching his legs. “Well, you’ve got my info, give me a call when you’re done with that wedding and we’ll meet up again and figure out how this will all work.” 

“Absolutely, I’ll get in contact with you by the end of next week, it was so great meeting you Mark.” Ashley rose and began to gather her things. 

Eleven months later, their friendship grew fast as they worked out what he indeed needed from his new assistant. Ashley checked in with him every morning to go over his schedule. This was mostly for him to say it outloud to someone as a reminder to himself. She fielded most of the requests for creative collaborations from creators that he hadn’t worked with before. Booked any and all travel and accommodations that he’d need, kept an eye on his dog, Chica the golden retriever while he was busy. Among other things as they came up.

~~~~~~~~

“Speaking of food, have you had breakfast yet?” Ashley asked Mark, he was sitting in a t-shirt, and sweatpants. It was only when he left the house he put jeans on. And even then, sometimes his professional house mate had to remind him. 

“Nope, haven’t gotten that far yet, just making sure the first video went up ok.” He yawned, running his hands through his now bright red hair.

“How about I run to Local for some food, I’ll get ahold of Matt and make sure the second video is ready to go for later, then you have the rest of the day to do whatever.” Ashley told Mark in more of a statement of truth than a question. That way he couldn't argue with her about how he could talk to Matt, his editor himself. Seeing Mark actually relaxing was a rare sight and she didn't want to disrupt it.

Ashley gathered her bag and keys from their hiding spot near the front door. You’d never know a woman lived in the house unless you managed to wander into her room. Anything that would expose her was hidden from view. It has been almost a year and somehow they’d managed to keep her existence unknown to all of Mark’s fans. They weren’t hiding anything, all of his friends knew and obviously his business contacts did as well, it was just easier for her to be a ghost. That way Mark's subscribers wouldn’t think he was getting too big to manage it himself, which just wasn’t the case, he just appreciated the help and didn’t have to depend on his friends as much. Fewer questions to answer, less stress for either of them. Especially Mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any tense mistakes. I originally started this in the first person and changed it over. I think I've got all the "I's" and "my's" replaced!


	2. Your Loss

“Mark! Dude, you’ve gotta get going!” Ashley yelled down the hall towards Mark’s room from her room, that doubled as an office. “Team Edge, 10 o’clock, go!” 

“Ashley! Lady, no I don’t!” came shouting back down the hall, dripping in sarcasm. 

“Oh great, it’s going to be one of those days” She thought to herself and rolled her eyes. “Did you just ‘lady’ me?” was shouted back. “And yes, my calendar says ‘Mark, Mattias’ house 10 o’clock, all day.” She got up from her spot at her small desk and headed towards the source of the sassiness. 

“GOT A TEXT THIS MORNING! SAID BRYAN IS SICK! POSTPONING UNTIL NEXT WEEK!” 

“No need to scream at me, I’m right here.” She whispered, now at his door, making him jump. She laughed at his panic. “Don’t make me turn on text forwarding for your phone, I know too much about you as it is, I don’t want to know everything...you’ve gotta remember to tell me these things, I get text messages too you know.” she continued, returning to a normal speaking voice and leaned on the door frame.

There was no use getting worked up over things like this, just something to keep working on. 

“What the hell are you doing?” She questioning why he was crawling around on the floor in a pile of wires. 

“Finally getting my Veeve set up, HELP too many cords!” Mark exasperated, collapsed onto his stomach.

“Vive, viiiiive, with an I.” Ashley exhaled and dramatically moved towards the heap of wires, packaging and Mark. “HTC is gonna come here and take that thing back from you if you keep calling it the wrong name.” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Read this” Mark over dramatically said while shoving a wad of paperwork towards Ashley. 

After plenty of swearing and a snack break, they were finally confident they had the new VR system up and running how it was supposed to. 

“For the price of this thing, someone should come set it up for you!” The well dressed girl chuckled and pulled herself onto a plush desk chair sitting in the corner, brushing her skirt off. 

“Nah, that’s what you’re for” Mark flashed his million dollar smile. 

“Yeah, whatever, I didn’t think technical support was in my job description. I demand a raise!” 

“Really? I mean, I can… um... how-” he stumbled on his words.

“Oh Mark, no. I was kidding. You already pay me way too much as it is. There’s no way I could ask for more.” Ashley felt horrible, that she made him think he wasn’t paying her enough to help him out. “I’m more than happy to help out in any way I can.”

“Ok good.” Mark paused. “Ah! Not, good, that you don’t want more money that came out wrong, good that you’re happy to help, I’d give you more if-”

“Stop.” She cut him off raising a finger. “Don’t worry about it, really. If I felt like you were demanding too much of me, believe me, you’d know.” She smiled, hoping to ease his worried awkwardness. “Now, go play with that crazy thing.” Motioning to the now organized pile of VR equipment on the floor.  
Ashley made a move to leave the room, she didn’t want to be in the way while he recorded a video.

“No, you can stay. I don’t think I’m going to record right away, just mess around with it.” Mark quickly said. “Hang out for a bit.” Ashley sat back down.

“That way if I fall down and break my shit, you’ll be here to save me.” They both laughed

“Oooooh woah!” Mark exclaimed “I have hands!” He waved the wireless controllers around in front of his face.

“Nerd, you should turn on your camera, you’ll only have a first impression once.” His ever thinking assistant suggested. 

“Don’t tell me what to do!” burst sarcastically from Mark’s mouth as he pointed a controller towards the window. 

“Over here buddy.” She laughed “You’ve had that on all of three minutes and you’re already turned around, great.” 

Ashley spent the rest of the morning watching Mark mess around with the Job Simulator, and a few other VR games. With a bit of advocating she got him to record a few episodes to get even further ahead. He had pre recorded some stuff for Matt to edit the past few days since they were supposed to spend most of today at Mattias’ house. Plus, it’d be great to actually have Mark ahead of schedule pre-recording a few things for while he was away for Pax, a large convention in Boston that was scheduled a few weeks from now. That, or they turned out to be not so great at setting the Vive up as they thought and everything went to shit. 

The virtual reality setup made it through the afternoon, and they declared they were in the clear to go grab dinner. They rarely had meals together just the two of them, someone was either eating on the go, it was just a quick bite to eat or there was a large group gathered somewhere. 

After a bit of a debate the duo finally decided on a small sushi place nearby that neither had been to before. 

“This place is really nice” Ashley said shortly before trying another piece of sashimi. “Aren’t you glad I made you put jeans on earlier?

“I got dressed to keep up with you, and you’re never wearing sweat pants, makes me look like a slob.” Mark laughed and reached across the table for a spider roll. 

“I wear sweatpants, just not all day. What do you think I sleep in? It’s just easier to get dressed for the day once right away, instead of realizing that I need to meet with someone and need to quick look presentable.” 

“Ummmm, hi…” a quiet voice interrupted their conversation. “I know you’re eating, and on a date or whatever, I’m sorry, but can I get a picture with you, oh god I’m rambling, so sorry!” The timid voice was coming from a boy who must have been no older than 13. 

“Absolutely buddy! No problem at all, come here! What’s your name?” Mark completely calmed the nerves of the boy in an instant. 

“Will, my name’s Will.” The young teen told Mark. 

“Well Will, do you mind if I have my friend take our picture? That way we’ll both be in the picture, I’m not the best at taking selfies.” He continued to ease the nerves of Will. 

“Su- Sure” Will mustered. 

Ashley reached out to grab his phone after he got it set on the camera. 

“Okay, ready? One… Two… Three!!” She counted and snapped a few pictures giving Mark a chance to make a few goofy faces. “There, ya go, they turned out great.” Ashley smiled at the boy and handed the phone back to him. 

“Thanks so much!! It was so great meeting you, sorry again for interrupting!” 

“No worries pal, have a good night!” Mark told the boy as he walked away to rejoin his waiting parents near the door. 

“Awkward.” Ashley whispered while wrinkling her nose into a funny face.

“I know that’s still weird whenever it happens. Sorry.” Mark said and cocked his head to the side a bit.

“No, weirdo. The kid thought we were on a date.” 

“Oh, yeah that. Uh I guess technically since most dates involve a meal, and I plan on paying the bill.” Ashley could tell Mark was trying to logic his way into an answer that didn’t get him into trouble. 

“Ooh, how romantic, ‘technically’... smartass.” she laughed. “Pass the tamago.” 

The friends finished up their meal and made their way back towards Mark’s car. 

“I’m really glad we decided to drive there, otherwise I would have requested an uber to get my ass back up this hill. I ate way too much!” Ashley told Mark as they neared the house. “Is that Ryan?” she asked as they pulled into the driveway. 

“Yeah, I think so, there’s his car.” Mark answered as he parked. “Ryan, everything ok, why are you sitting on my steps?” he pulled his phone out of his pocket making sure he hadn’t missed any messages from Ryan.

“I was bored so I came here, Matt’s editing, seeing that you sent him like five episodes worth of footage earlier.” Ryan shot Ashley a sarcastic side-eye knowing well that that was her doing. “Where were you?” He continued as he stood up.

“We went for dinner, come inside.” Mark answered while gesturing for Ryan to join them on the way into the house. 

“Ooh, you went on a date!” Ryan said sing-songy.

“What! Why does everyone thing we were on a date?” Mark threw his hands into the air in a joking manner, all Ashley could do is smile and shake her head as she tucked her purse into it’s usual hiding spot by the door. 

“Wait, what’d I miss? I was being a smartass, I’m confused.” Ryan look from Mark to Ashley, back to Mark for answers. 

“Some kid came up to Mark at dinner and wanted a picture with him. He thought he was interrupting our date and felt bad.” Ashley stopped laughing long enough to explain. 

“Wait, so was it a date then?” Ryan asked still a bit confused. 

“No.” Mark and Ashley said in unison.

“Hey, I’m gonna run upstairs and change. Have a beer with me when I get back Ryan?” Ashley asked while heading away from the boys that were now settling onto opposite sides of the large red sofa. 

“You need to ask?” Ryan exclaimed 

“Yeah, stupid question.” and at that she bounced up the stairs. 

~~~~

Knowing Ashley was finally out of earshot Ryan looked at Mark and asked; “Really though, was it a date? You can tell me, who would I tell?”

“Everyone, you would tell everyone. And no, we just ate a meal together. We work together that’d be weird.” Mark explained. 

“Sooo, if she wasn’t managing your calendar it mayb-”

“Keep it up smartass!” Mark shot a look across the length of the couch. 

“Hey man, your loss.” Ryan shook his head and laughed.

The look intensified.

“She’s funny, she’s cute, she probably knows more about you than we do and is still here, you haven’t scared her off. She gets you.” Ryan made his case. 

~~~~

Ashley stopped in her tracks on the second the last step, she wasn’t supposed to hear that conversation was she? She did what she could not to laugh loud enough to be heard by the boys in the next room. She took pause on the last step to make it seem she hadn’t been near enough to overhear. “Boys” She shook her head.

She was sure to make her presence known as she reentered the living area downstairs. “Hey Ryan, classy or trashy?” was directed towards the boys. 

“Uhhmmm, trashy!” Ryan answered 

“PBR it is!” Ashley grabbed two cans from the fridge. Opting for that over the ‘classy’ craft beer from AleSmith tucked towards the back. 

“Here ya go.” She handed the cold can to Ryan as she made my way past them towards the chaise end of the large over stuffed sofa.

“See, I do own sweat pants, and wear them!” and kicked a leg towards Mark.

“Well look at that, and the world isn’t ending!” Mark laughed and grabbed her foot to set it on his lap. She stretched her other leg towards him without a second though. They both missed the surprised look on Ryan’s face. They seemed so at ease with each other and for the first time took Ryan by surprise. Maybe he wasn’t too far off, maybe there was actually something there those two didn’t see. 

The boys finally settled on some horrible movie on Netflix as Ashley settled in and sipped on her beer and checked over the next day’s schedule. Things were about to kick into high gear with Pax coming up.


	3. Good Night

Pax East was coming up, and quick. As expected Mark was invited to speak at a panel and had a time alloted for a signing all afternoon one day. While Mark spent his days and nights recording enough to cover the five days he’d be away in addition to the two videos a day he recorded normally, Ashley was tasked to coordinate schedules and reservations. Sean, one of Mark’s good friend and fellow YouTube ‘let’s player’ was flying in from Ireland and meeting them in Boston and Ashley had volunteered to make sure he had transportation to and from the airport and to coordinate a delivery of flowers to arrive for his girlfriend back home while he was away. As the convention date got closer and closer more and more requests came in from other creators to meet up and film little bits while they were there. The assistant had now turned it into a game of how many ways she could politely turn someone down. It just wasn’t possible to fulfil everyone's requests. Especially since Mark was already spread so thin with his own engagements while he was there. She was already concerned for his sanity, he willingly signed onto a three and a half hour meet and greet. 

“Can’t blame me for that one, that was all him. Have fun with that” Ashley said outloud to herself and shook her head at her desk while checking over the very color coded timeline she was assembling for Mark and his friends.

 

It had been non-stop the past few weeks preparing for Pax, the house seemed to be the place to hang out, there was constantly people visiting for one reason or another. Usually just for the sake of being there and boredom, it was a dangerous combination. Ashley had to prevent a late night hot sauce catastrophe last week. She decided to not ask too many questions but walked in on a cluster of boys ogling over a squirt gun filled with buffalo sauce, while nothing like some of the other hot sauces that have been consumed in this house, she wasn’t going to risk it. 

“No, nooope, not gonna happen, hand it over!” Ashley transformed into a no nonsense mode and demanded the new weapon as she interrupted whatever was being planned. 

“What, why? You don’t even know what we’re going to do!” Matt began to argue.

“Do you even know what you’re going to do with it? That’s what worries me, give it.” the authoritarian stuck her hand out to collect the hot sauce gun. Matt reluctantly handed it over. 

“You’re the worst, Mark, she’s the worst.” The youngest guy in the group complained. If she didn’t know him as well as she did, Ashley would have been offended. 

“The worst, really? I highly doubt that.” Mark defended his assistant from Matt’s sarcasm.

“Thank you Mark.” Ashley smiled towards him. “The worst would be hot sauce in you eyes.” Ashley widened her stance, still in her black heels and sighted the plastic pistol towards Matt’s face, letting on for the first time that she was perhaps a good shot and not just a girl that was always around on the phone in fancy clothes.

“Woah Ashley. Matt don’t move, I wanna see this” Ryan chimed in from over her left shoulder. 

Without hesitation and before Matt could move she squeezed one eye shut, shifted her aim ever so slightly from between Matt’s eyes and squeezed the trigger sending a stream of bright orange liquid whizzing past Matt’s head. Narrowly missing his right temple. 

Matt shrieked as the two other boys laughed hysterically. With a straight face Ashley relaxed her stance, lowered the plastic pistol and turned on her heels, to walk inside, gun in hand. “Have a good night, boys. Chica come on, let’s go relax” Ashley walked inside and grabbed an open bottle of red wine with the happy golden retriever at her side. 

“Holy shit Mark, did you know she could do that?” Ryan was shocked

“Did I know the woman that keeps my life together was an amazing shot? No, why would I know that? Shit, wow…” Mark trailed off “you okay buddy?” he continued with a chuckle after collecting his thoughts.

“Yeah… wow. I have so many questions, like how did we not know that she could do that? I don’t know what scares me more, shit’s gone wrong and I’ve gotta fix it Ashley or shit's gone wrong and I could shoot you between the eyes no problem Ashley.” Matt laughed, shaking it off. “Also, how did you know follow her upstairs? That was hot!” He directed towards Mark.

“Pervert.” Mark shoved his friend. “And, you too? Why is it so hard for you fools to believe that there’s nothing going on between us?” Mark exhaled. 

“Did you not watch any of your gameplay with the Vive? Come on man, she wasn’t mic’d up but I know damn sure she was in that room with you, wanna know how many times I had to cut out you looking towards her with a goofy grin on your face?” Matt started. “The way you guys look at each other, you can do that talking without talking thing, it’s freaky. You would have never defended one of us if we said the hot sauce gun was a bad idea. There’s definitely something there.” He quickly added before Mark hit hit again, harder. 

“Something? Yeah, she lives here and knows the in’s and out’s of my daily life. We were bound to get to know each other. That’s it.” Mark defended himself.

“Mmhmm, ok.” Ryan started “and on that note we better get going. See you tomorrow mid-morning?” The three had started filming a sketch a few days ago and needed to finish up tomorrow so the finished project could go up right before, or during the first part of Pax East. 

Ryan and Matt made their way home leaving Mark alone downstairs. He headed upstairs to collect Chica from Ashley’s room. He knocked on the heavy white door to her room.

“Come in.” He heard from the other side as a loud whisper, and cracked the door to find Ashley sitting on top of the covers to her bed watching something on TV.

“Hey, I came to grab Chica, I’m turning in for the night.” 

“She’s out, apparently the jog she and I took earlier wore her out!” Ashley motioned to the curled up yellow ball snoring lightly at the foot of her bed. “She can stay, I don’t want to disturb her.” She continued. 

“She’s ridiculous.” Mark added. “So, you’re an amazing shot?”

“Yeah, my dad was a hunter and I ended up with a fascination with trap shooting.” Ashley explained and readjusted herself on the bed to be looking at Mark.

“You scared the shit out of Matt and Ryan, you already intimidated them, I don’t think they’ll look you in the eyes without permission now.” Mark laughed. “Well, I’m exhausted too. Mind if I keep your door cracked incase Chica-Pica wakes up and realizes she’s not in my room?” he asked. 

“That’s fine, go ahead. Just be sure to close it if you get up before me in the morning, I plan on sleeping in. I don’t have shit to do tomorrow right away so I’m gonna take advantage of it.” Ashley smiled at Mark. 

“Works for me, I’ll leave my door cracked too.” Mark leaned on the door frame. “Good night Ashley” 

“G’Night” Ashley smiled. 

Mark pushed himself away from the door frame and swung the door partially shut and headed down the hall to his own room. Had they ever said goodnight to each other? This must have been the first time Mark thought to himself, it was a nice way to end the day. He made a mental note to remember to do that more often from now on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've have part four started as well as an outline as to where I'd like the story to go. Hopefully I'll get a few more chapters up and going sooner rather than later.!


	4. Super Mega

Mark woke early to find the large dog bed in the corner of his room empty, he hoped Chica hadn’t wandered somewhere she shouldn’t be and chewed another hole into a wall. 

After pulling a shirt over his head the messy haired Mark wandered towards Ashley’s room, hopefully that’s where Chica still was. He found the door propped open just as he left it the night before. He tentatively peaked his head around the door frame and found his dog curled up on the plush rug Ashley had put under her bed. 

“Chica, come’ere” Mark whispered, hoping to wake the retriever and not the girl sleeping peacefully on her bed. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her that relaxed. She was always running errands and on the phone. Even when they went for sushi she was running through schedules and kept a constant eye on social media. 

The sleepy dog had since awoke and stretched her legs to make her way towards Mark.  
“Come on Chica, lets go outside and make breakfast.” Mark ruffled the mess of bright red hair on top of his head. Mark swung Ashley’s door shut then he and Chica made their way downstairs. 

“Chica, Chica, Chica! Should we go make breakfast?” Mark asked the happy puppy when she returned the ball that was being thrown around the patio. 

Mark navigated around the kitchen preparing himself a bowl of oatmeal topped with fresh berries. As he sat at the counter eating he decided for the first time ever he was going to make breakfast for Ashley as well. 

“Hey girl, does Ashley like oatmeal?” Mark questioned Chica who just tilted her head. 

“Right, don’t want to risk it. Ummm… what have I seen her eat in the morning? She usually orders the fruit and yogurt when she picks up food from the cafe. I can do that.” Mark went about cutting up strawberries and a few slices of melon he found in the refrigerator and arranged them in a bowl. He filled another small bowl with plain yogurt then grabbed the package of granola from the cupboard. “Think she’ll like it?” He asked the attentive dog. He balanced all the bowls onto a large plate and headed upstairs. 

“Why haven’t I done this before? I’m usually the first one downstairs anyway, I should do this more often.” He thought to himself. He saw the door he had swung shut earlier was now back open. Ashley was awake. 

“Knock, knock. I’ve got breakfast.” Mark stood at the door. 

“You made me breakfast? You okay? What do you want?” Ashley poked fun at her boss. She motioned for him to come in and set the collection of bowls down on her desk. 

“Yes, I’m fine. I just thought you always get food for me, I thought I’d repay the favor. Mind if I sit.” Mark asked motioning to the white leather office chair. 

“Go for it. Thank you, this looks good.” She picked up the bowl of fruit and sat back down on her bed cross legged. 

“I was trying to remember what you order from Local most often, hope I got it right.”

The pair sat in Ashley’s room while she finished breakfast and talked about the plan for next week and what time Mark needed to be at the airport on Wednesday to head to Boston. 

“Well, I’m gonna go record something before Matt & Ryan get here.” Mark stood up and began collecting the now empty bowls from Ashley’s desk. 

“I’ll lay low up here then. I’ve got nothing to do for once, but I’ve got a bunch of shows to catch up on.” Ashley clicked on the small monitor sitting on her desk. “Thanks again for breakfast, that was really nice.” 

Shortly after eleven Ashley heard Matt & Ryan arrive. She switched off the show she had been watching and slipped her headphones on. She decided to listen to some music while she went through that day’s e-mail. Plus this way she’d be quieter, the boys were filming something and didn’t want to disturb them at all. 

“This isn’t working, it needs another character here.” Ryan interrupted Mark as he spoke his line again. “We’re all in this already, we need someone else.” 

“Would a girl work? Ashley’s home.” Mark suggested, not knowing what Ryan was envisioning.  
“Hmm, that could work, adding dialogue in that quiet part would keep the momentum going. Think she’d be up for it?” Matt shrugged from behind the camera. 

“Won’t hurt to ask. Your content, you ask.” Mark suggested

“You go Ryan, last time I saw her she had a gun pointed at my face.” Matt laughed remembering the events of the night before. 

The other two boys joined in with laughter. “Too chicken?” Ryan started “fine I'll go ask, she's in her office?” his attention now turned to Mark. Anticipating his answer Ryan has already turned on his heels and was making his way towards the staircase.

A few moments later he returned with Ashley not far behind. 

“Alright nerds, let’s do this!” Ashley announced her presence with a clap of her hands. 

The foursome spent the rest of the morning working on the new Super Mega sketch, disguised as goofing off. It was one-thirty when it was decided they got all they needed. 

“You boys hungry? I’ll make some lunch.” Ashley stated and made her way towards the kitchen. 

“You guys make yourself at home, I’m gonna help Ashley.” Mark told Matt and Ryan

The two younger guys decided to stick around and made their way the stools at the breakfast bar surrounding the large open kitchen. 

Mark and Ashley moved around the kitchen in a flawless routine that looked like they had practiced many times before. It didn’t go unnoticed by Matt. He elbowed Ryan in the side and nodded towards the duo in the kitchen without saying a word or alerting them they were being watched so closely. 

“I know right? It’s weird” Ryan whispered

“Mmmhmm.” Matt responded “I don’t think they’ve said a word to each other yet, somehow they’re making the same thing.”

“They really don’t see it, do they?” Ryan wondered out loud. 

“Nope, or they do and there’s a serious case of denial” They both chuckled, blowing their cover. 

“Who’s in denial?” Ashley asked as she turned around, butter knife in hand. 

“What? No one.” Matt stumbled on his words

“Hmmm, I don’t trust it, but I’ll let it slide this time.” She waggled the knife it a joking manner back and forth between the boys sitting at the bar. “We’re almost done here, what do you want to drink?” 

After pouring four beverages, Ashley made her way around the counter and sat down next to Mark who had just put four plates down. “Turkey no mayo” She pointed at Ryan “Turkey no tomato” then to Matt.

“Wait, how’d you know I don’t like tomatoes?” Matt asked, stunned.

“Buddy, I get paid to remember people don’t like tomatoes.” Ashley explained before biting into her own sandwich. 

“That’s crazy, half the time I forget I don’t like tomatoes and have to pick them off things. Thanks” He smiled and bit into his personalized meal. 

They all finished their meals and laughed about random stuff and discussed if Mark was ready to head to Boston in a few days before Ryan and Matt decided to head home to start editing that day’s footage. 

“Thanks so much for helping out today Ashley, and for lunch!” Ryan said as he made his way towards the door. 

“Don’t worry about it, it was fun. Hopefully I didn’t ruin it, I’ve never done anything like that before. Let me know when it’s done.” 

“You were great! If all goes to plan it should be up on Thursday. We’ll let you know.” Matt continued. 

After the boys left Mark and Ashley went over some last minute changes to Marks schedule while he was in Boston. Ashley then turned to the rest of the current day’s agenda. Somehow, without pestering Mark was ahead of schedule and had nothing that needed to be done the rest of the day, he spent the rest of the day relaxing in the air conditioning with Ashley and Chica.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know SuperMega is primarily a gaming channel, but for the sake of this story, it happens to feature at least a few sketch videos.


	5. The Box

“It’s so quiet Chica, I love it!” Ashley said to the happy puppy. The two of them were lounging on a chaise near the pool out back. Mark had left for the airport very early on that Thursday morning and according to flight information he was now well on his way to the East coast for PAX East, in Boston. “We should have a girls day Chica! Let’s paint our nails!” 

 

Ashley jumped up and ran up to her room followed by the happy golden retriever. After gathering a handful of nail polish colors they settled back into their original places on the sunny deck. 

 

“Chica, that didn’t take nearly long enough, it’s only Noon.” Ashley sighed.”What am I going to do with myself for seven days?” she chuckled and made her way inside to make lunch. 

 

As she poured the smoothie she made for lunch into a glass, Ashley heard her phone ringing from its spot under the umbrella outside and made her way towards it. 

 

“Uh oh Chica it’s your dad.” Ashley told the napping dog. “Hello, what’s wrong?” She answered the phone.

 

“Hi, and how’d you know something was wrong?” A deep male voice responded from the other end of the line.

 

“You’ve been on the ground no more than an hour, and you’re not really the ‘checking in’ type, so whats up?” Ashley laughed.

 

“So, you know that box that I told you to remind me to take with me, and you reminded me about three times this morning….” Mark’s voice trailed off.

 

“You’re kidding me, really? You forgot the package filled with the stickers you insisted on having made for this thing last minute. Not to mention I put a bunch of gifts for Sean that you ended up with in there too. You’re gonna kill me, you know that, right?” Ashley immediately snapped out of relaxation mode and back into assistant mode. 

 

“Yeahhh…. I think it’s sitting on the couch.” she heard sheepishly from the phone. 

 

“Well, let me look into having it sent overnight to the hotel and I’ll get you the tracking info.” She said towards the phone, now on speaker and she made her way to the living room to find the cardboard box sitting in the middle of the couch. 

 

“I already looked into it, and holy shit that’s expensive for a box that heavy. It’ll be cheaper if you just use some of my miles and bring it yourself.” Mark suggested. 

 

“You want me to fly all the way to Boston, to hand deliver this package, really? What am I gonna do with Chica?” Ashley shook her head. 

 

“It’ll be an adventure, just call that kennel, they’d love to see her again.” Mark explained “plus, you can see Sean and tell him how much of an idiot I am in person.” Ashley could tell Mark was shrugging. 

 

“You are absolutely an idiot, and crazy. I’ll get everything squared away here and I’ll text you what’s going on when I get a flight. If I can get a flight.” They finished up their conversation and Ashley immediately started planning her ‘adventure’ as Mark called it. She started with a flight, then called the kennel. She wasn’t sure how long Chica would need to stay, hell Ashley didn’t know how long she was going to be in Boston, she explained the situation to the bubbly girl on the phone and they agreed to keep her until next Friday, but wouldn’t be surprised if she was picked up much sooner than that. 

After dropping a very confused Chica off at the kennel later that day, Ashley finally sent Mark a text.

 

Ashley: Everything’s set, no flights until 8:30, won’t get in until 5:15am. Meet you later in the morning with the ever important package. LOL. 

 

Mark: OMG you’re amazing. I’ll call when I’m up? Around 9?

 

Ashley: I know right? So amazing :D cu in the am

 

Not knowing how long she’d be away, Ashley had some trouble packing. She decided on a sun dress, along with a pair of jeans, two blouses and a few t-shirts along with her other essentials. Even though she was flying overnight she didn’t want to look like a slob and changed out of the yoga pants and tank top she had on and into a nice pair of skinny jeans paired with a nice fitted tee. She put on some makeup and put her hair into a ponytail. 

Before she knew it, three hours had passed and it was time to request an Uber to the airport. She still had three hours before her flight departed, but wanted to giver herself plenty of time to get there. Los Angeles traffic was unpredictable and who knew how long it’d take to get through security once she checked into her flight. 

Ashley got to the airport in what seemed record time. After finally making it through the large airport to the correct gate, she checked the time.

“Plenty of time to go get something to eat.” She thought to herself. She wasn’t going to eat some crappy pre-packaged meal on the plane if she didn’t have to. 

After settling back into the stiff seat near the gate with her salad, she felt her phone go off, it was a text from Ryan.

 

Ryan: sketch vid it up, turned out great, thanks again!! 

 

Ashley: thanks for letting me know, glad to know I didn’t ruin it!

 

Ashley pulled a pair of earbuds out of her carryon and loaded up youTube on her phone. 

 

She did her best to stifle her laughs as she watched Matt, Mark, and herself goof off on the tiny screen in front of her. 

“That was a ton of fun, hopefully they’ll ask me to help out again sometime, even if it’s just behind the camera.” She thought to herself as the five minute clip came to an end. She then scrolled to the videos description to see if they had followed instructions and didn’t include who she was. The last thing Ashley needed was people finding out who she was and using her to get to Mark, she liked people not knowing her name. To her satisfaction, there was no mention of the dark haired girl at all. 

“Good boys” She laughed. Ashley was just about to begin answering any last minute emails before boarding began a text came through.

 

Ryan: See the comments? They want to know who you are. So it begins…

 

Ashley: oh jeeze. Haven’t looked. Hopefully mostly good things…

 

Ryan: So far it seems like it, just curiosity. Check it out, it’s amusing

 

Ashley: will do, thanks for the heads up!!

 

Ashley opened the video once more and scrolled straight to the comments, after wading through plenty about how good looking Mark was, and rolling her eyes along the way she came across a long comment thread about herself. She began skimming it until something caught her eye. A comment from whom she could only assume was Will, the boy from the sushi restaurant a few weeks back telling everyone that he had seen Mark and “that girl” on a date awhile ago and had pictures. A few of the following comments doubted the fact it could have been a date, along with a few others oohing and awwing about the fact that Mark potentially was on a date. After following the links from the initial comment to an instagram account, she found the picture she snapped of Mark and the boy along with another. A candid shot of Mark and herself sitting at their table, chopsticks in hand with huge grins on their faces. It made her smile before quickly searching the rest of the internet for chatter about herself. 

The internet seemed pretty calm about the whole thing for now. “Hopefully it’ll stay that way.” She thought to herself before sending a text to Mark

 

Ashley: Hey, sketch is great. Comments want to know who I am though. 

Will from sushi linked to pic of us on our ‘date.’ Hive seems calm for now LOL

 

Mark: Damnit Will! LOL as long as they’re playing nice.

 

Mark: Welcome to youTube!!! Hahaha

 

Ashley then heard the gate agents begin calling for boarding. She packed her belongings up including the box filled with stickers and trinkets, the cause of her impromptu cross country trip.   
After finally taking off and hitting altitude the ever in professional mode woman reclined and did everything in her power to fall asleep as she made her way to Boston.


	6. That Girl

“Miss? Miss, I’m sorry to wake you but I need to ask you to return your seat to its upright position, we’re nearing Boston.” Ashley was awoken from her light sleep by the polite flight attendant.   
“Oh, sorry. Thanks.” The brunette regained her surroundings and sat up. 

“That’s right, I’m going to Boston. The things I do for this boy, I swear.” She thought and gave herself a once over, she checked her hair and touched up her light pink lipstick for no reason other than habit. 

She was thankful that the flight wasn’t very full and she was seated toward the front of the plane so it didn’t take very long to disembark, trying to sleep in an airline chair wasn’t very comfortable and she was eager to stretch the knot out of her back. 

After sleepily waiting at the baggage carousel, Ashley made her way to the taxi pick up area.

“Where to miss?” The middle aged, bearded man asked as he lifted her maroon suitcase and the cardboard box that was the cause of this adventure into the trunk of his yellow suv.

“Shit… uhhhm… that’s a good question.” Ashley cursed. In the crazy last minute planning, she somehow managed to get everything taken care of except a place to stay. “The Westin Waterfront, it’s across the harbor near the convention center. Know where that is?” she finished. That’s where the convention organizers had her book Mark a room. “I’ll just get a room when I get there.” She thought to herself.

“Forget where you were staying?” The driver chuckled.

“Yeah, something like that.” 

A short while later she was stood at one of the reception desks in the Westin’s bright, palatial lobby.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but we’re booked solid due to an event that’s taking place at the convention center this weekend.” An apologetic girl, who was way too awake and chipper for this time of day explained. “I’d be more than happy to contact nearby hotels for you, but we’ve gotten memos from all of them stating that they’re booked up as well.” She continued.

“No need to apologize, it’s not your fault. It was an oversight on my part. Have a great day.” Ashley sighed. She then checked the time on her phone, it was nearing seven in the morning. 

“It’s his fault I’m here, I’m waking his ass up.” Ashley mumbled to herself and touched the speed dial icon assigned to Mark on her phone.

“H’lo?” She heard a groggy Mark slur into the phone.

“G’Morning”

“What’s up?” 

“So, you know how you said I could tell Sean how much of an idiot you really were when I saw him? You can do the same for me.” Ashley sighed into the receiver. After a bit of a silence, she continued. “In all the excitement of getting out here, I might have forgot to find a hotel room and everything that won’t give me fleas in the area is booked up.”

All she heard from the other end of the line was laughing.

“Knock it off, it’s not funny!” Ashley was now laughing herself.

“Where are you know?” Mark asked.

“Downstairs, can I crash on your floor for awhile before I can get a flight out of here?”

“Head on up, 8526.”

“Thanks, I’ll be up in a sec.” They wrapped up their brief conversation and she made her way towards the elevators.

“Here’s your damn box!” Ashley shoved the heavy cardboard parcel towards Mark once inside the hotel room.

He took the brown box from her arms with a mutually groggy chuckle and set it down on the desk, then reached for the carry on bag slung on her shoulder. 

“How in the world did miss organization manage this?” The bedhead clad youTuber asked.

“No damn clue, but I would have loved to have seen my face when my cab driver asked me where to go.” She laughed, now kicking off her shoes. 

“Make yourself at home, seeing that I’m awake now I’ve got some thumbnails to finish up. Go lay down, you look exhausted.”

“Sorry” Ashley shrugged and made her way towards the couch at the far side of the hotel room near the windows. 

“Do not go anywhere near that couch to relax. I tried lounging last night and yeah, there is no way I’m letting you sleep on that thing.” Mark directed his sleepy assistant towards the bed. 

“You sure? I don’t want to put you out like that, I’m sure I wou-”

“Nope, sleep, bed, now” Mark interrupted and pointed towards the bed.

Before she knew it Ashley was sound asleep in the still warm plush bed with the sounds of mouse clicks and Mark humming along to the song stuck in his head in the background. 

A few hours later Mark was startled by the knock on his door, he paused the video he was watching and turned to check that Ashley was still asleep, then made his way to the door. He peered through the peephole and saw his friend Sean on the other side. Mark always enjoyed seeing Sean, he rarely got to see him in person since he lived in Ireland. Most people knew Sean as Jack though, as in JackSepticEye, his username on youTube. Ashley was one of only a handful of people that weren’t family that called him by his real name on a regular basis. 

“Hey! How’s it goin?” Mark answered the door in a loud whisper. “Come on in, quiet though, I’ve got a sleeper.” he said inviting the bright green haired man in.

“I’m good, wait what? A sleeper?” Sean whispered back entering the room, looking around. Before Mark could answer he spotted a woman with long brown hair pulled up in a messy bun facing away from him on the bed. “Woah dude, if you’re busy I can leave” the Irishman said shocked.

“Really? You think in the one day I’ve been here I met some chick and brought her to my room?” Mark said in a joking shock and motioned for his friend to join him in the lounge area of the hotel room, away from the bed. “Don’t worry about it, it’s Ashley” 

“Again, if you’re busy I can come back later, I’m just trying to avoid jet lag.” Sean chuckled.

“Really, you too? Have you been talking to Matt and Ryan, they’re hell bent on thinking we have a thing.” The still messy haired man started. “It’s a long story, but she saved my ass last minute and I’m letting her crash here. I’ll let her tell you the whole story later, you’ll get a kick out of it.” 

“Well she’s sleeping in your bed. What was I supposed to think?” Sean shrugged.

The duo quietly chatted and caught up for the next forty five minutes before they heard movement from the bed. Ashley was making her way toward the bathroom unaware of the extra body in the room.

“Ok, guess I really believe you now, she still has her jeans on.” Sean laughed.

“Hey, hope we didn’t wake you.” Mark told Ashley as she emerged from the bathroom looking much more rested than she did earlier that morning.

“We? Oh, hey Sean. No you didn’t wake me up, I didn’t even know you weren’t still at the desk.” She was way beyond being embarrassed about the situation. She was still more upset at herself for not booking a room for herself to begin with. That, and she was now sitting there with no makeup on, this really went against the professional all the time thing she went for. 

“Do you mind if I quick borrow your laptop so I can book a return flight?” Ashley asked Mark. Before Mark could answer a loud Irish voice interjected.

“You’re not staying? Why aren’t you staying? Stay! I just decided you’re staying!” The giddy Irishman proclaimed.

Ashley looked to Mark for an answer and shrugged.

“If you don’t mind, it might be nice to have you here, in case something else comes up.” Mark shrugged as well. “We’ll figure a sleeping arrangement out later.” 

“Yay!” Sean yelled. 

The trio spent the rest of the morning talking and watching tv in Mark’s room before ordering room service for lunch. Later that day ‘An Afternoon with Markiplier’ was scheduled at the convention center across the street. It was going to be a three and a half hour meet and greet session with Mark, Sean and another of Mark’s friends, Wade who also had a presence on youTube. Ashley was convinced to join them. After a quick shower and a change of clothes she headed to the convention center after the boys to sort out an access pass for herself. She then made her way towards the convention hall the signing was to take place in.   
She couldn’t believe her eyes as she rounded the corner, there were hundreds of people all in a queue waiting to be let into the large room. Ashley was well aware of how many subscribers Mark had online, along with Sean and Wade, but to see this many people in person was a bit overwhelming.   
The assistant could feel many pairs of eyes on her as she made her way past the crowd and was then ushered into the room ahead of everyone else. She was glad that she changed into the dusty pink high waisted aline skirt and cream sleeveless blouse she packed. Instead of staying in her slept in jeans.   
Her black leather high heels made more noise on the concrete floor than she anticipated as she hurriedly made her way across the large now quiet room causing the trio of men on the other side of the room to turn their heads. 

“Hey, made it!” Ashley exclaimed as she closed the gap between them. 

“Just in time too, they’re about to open the doors.” Mark said.

“I sure hope so, I think they’re getting restless out there. I thought a few of them were going to jump me for my badge and rush the door when they opened it for me.” she said as she smoothed out her skirt from the large strides she took on the way in. “please tell me whomever needs the stickers, has the stickers.” Ashley laughed. 

The small group continued their banter for a few moment before the large quiet room erupted with noise as the event coordinators opened the doors allowing people to file in. After wishing the guys luck she made her way to the edge of the room to take it all in.   
Time was flying by, she was having way too much fun laughing at them from the sidelines. Mark and Sean were great at interacting with all sorts of people. She could tell Wade will still trying to figure it all out. He was doing great though. Ashley was glad she thought to put her digital camera in her purse, right after snapping a few photos of Mark and Sean running around like fools with capes that someone gave them, she felt a tap on her shoulder. 

“Excuse me, are you the girl that was in the new sketch video yesterday?” A girl in a Markiplier shirt asked, she must have been no older than 17.

“What? Oh, yup that was me.” Ashley answered with a polite smile taken a bit off guard. She didn’t expect to be recognized at all. 

“I thought so! Some of my friends were taking pictures of you and saying that if you were the one in the video, they said you must be Mark’s girlfriend since you were here.” the teenager pointed to a group of girls near the exit picking up their stickers. “They voted me to come over here, to ask.”

“Well, I’m indeed the one in the video.” Ashley said “I’m not his girlfriend though, Mark is very single.” she said with a sly smile, trying to make the girl laugh and hopefully forget to ask any more personal questions. Still no one knew her name.

The girl blushed. “Hey, thanks for being so cool with me coming up to you, can I get a picture with you?”

Ashley posed for a quick selfie with the girl and said goodbye. As the girl turned to walk away the said;

“Well, I think you two would make a good couple. You and Mark that is.” 

That one threw Ashley for a loop, sure she had heard some of the guys joke about it, but that’s all she thought it was, jokes. Hearing someone neither of them knew say something like that was quite weird. She didn’t know what to say, so she just tilted her head to the side a bit in confusion. 

She laughed it off and directed her attention back to the center of the room and realized Mark had seen the entire interaction with the teen. She shrugged and mouthed the word “later” at him.

A short time later, after the last fan made their way out of the door, Mark bee lined his way to his assistant.

“Did I see you taking a selfie with someone?”

“Yup! I'm in one video and I'm already stealing your fans.” Ashley poked at Mark “her friends made her come ask if I was ‘that girl’ from the video and if I was your girlfriend because, you know, that's the only logical reason for me to be here” she laughed and shook her head. 

“People are crazy.” 

“I would know, I work for you.” She chuckled. “Somehow I managed to escape the interrogation without saying my name though” 

“She wasn't a very good investigator then was she?” The very tired looking YouTube star laughed. 

Wade and Sean decided they were going to try to wander around the convention's main hall for awhile. Mark told them he was too tired and hungry for that and excused himself and Ashley to head back to the hotel.

Once the duo returned to the hotel they immediately decided they were both far too tired to sit in the hotel’s fancy restaurant, so it was sweat pants and room service for the second time that day. 

They made their way into their now shared hotel room and Mark headed straight to the room service menu as Ashley kicked off her four inch heels and untucked her blouse. 

“I really have no idea how you can wear those things all day” Mark motioned towards the black shoes now at the foot of the bed.

“Lots of practice” Ashley said as if it was no big deal and looked over her boss's shoulder at the menu. “I'm too tired to pick, surprise me. I'm gonna go change” she said as she made her way towards the bathroom.

When she rejoined Mark in the main part of the room she found he had changed into athletic shorts and a T-shirt and was sitting on the edge of the bed on his phone. 

She sat at the desk chair grabbed her phone from the desk where she left it and caught herself up on the day as well. Ashley scooted the wheeled desk chair forward a bit and put slung her feet onto the nearby bed in one swift movement. A short while later the quiet clicks and pops from their respective cell phones were interrupted by a knock at the door, their dinner had arrived.

“Did you order one of everything?” Ashley laughed motioning towards the packed cart that was now sitting in the center of the room. Even the room service attendant had seemed a bit surprised at the fact there was only two people for all the food he was delivering. 

“No, I couldn't pick myself so I kind of went crazy. I think most of it is stuff that can go in the fridge and be reheated though if we don't eat it.” Mark defended his choices with a laugh. “Dig in!”

They sat and ate their buffet of food and laughed at the stupid tv show they chose to watch and recounted some of the more memorable people Mark and the others had met that day. They were soon both stuffed and could no longer stifle their yawns. 

“Help me get some of this cleaned up before it spoils” Ashley asked Mark for assistance in cleaning up their leftovers. When she returned from pushing the food cart into the hall she found her red haired roommate standing at the foot of the bed. 

“Left or right?” He asked

“Care to elaborate?”

“Which side do you want to sleep on, left or right?” 

“Mark, I already said I'd sleep on the floor, there's extra blankets and pillows in the closet.” Ashley explained.

“I know neither of us wants to deal with the person that sleeps on the floor the next day. This is a huge bed. We’re adults, quit being stubborn and pick a side”

“You sell good point, and I’m too tired and full of fries to protest, um… right I guess.” Ashley picked the side she was already nearest. 

“Good, now flip the lights off and get in, I have great movie to watch.” Mark said as he flopped into the bed and grabbed his laptop from the end of the bed. 

Ashley switched the large overhead light off and latched the door lock before sliding under the white plush duvet.

“Do I dare ask what we’re watching tonight?” 

“Do you love 70’s sci fi horror featuring mutant rabbits? Then you’ll love ‘Night of the Lepus’!” Mark pressed play and the bizarre film began playing on the laptop that was now settled between them at their knees. 

“What now? Where do you find this shit?” Ashley laughed and fluffed the pillows behind her.  
There was something oddly satisfying about crawling into bed before 9 o’clock at night and watching a movie in good company. Ashley made a mental note to suggest having a movie night once a week when they got back to Los Angeles, it’d be great chance for both of them to unwind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for hanging in there, life happened and I set this story aside for awhile. I fully plan on continuing it and promise we're nearing the 'meat & potatoes' of the story soon. I've got some ideas outlined and cannot wait to share them with you. 
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


	7. Shower Thoughts

“Ugh why is it so bright in here?” Ashley thought to herself as she rolled towards the annoying buzz from her phone's alarm emanating from beside her. Once the alarm had been silenced she was awake enough to realize the bright morning sun was the light source filling the room, she had forgotten to pull the light blocking shades closed before going to bed the night before.

Her usual sweeping arm stretch to wake up was interrupted almost as quickly as it began, the groggy assistant recoiled her left arm as soon as it hit the warm mass next to her. She stifled a gasp, before quickly remembering she was sharing a bed with Mark.   
Ashley checked the time on the dated alarm clock sitting on her nightstand, 7:30. There was no need to be awake, no dog to let outside, no business calls to make, Mark’s next event wasn’t until much later that evening. So, for the first time in a long time Ashley decided to sleep in. As she began to resettle under the duvet Mark began to stir. Her bed mate reached out and pulled the drowsy assistant into the warmth of his chest, immediately falling back to sleep. Not wanting to disturb his sleep and enjoying the impromptu cuddle Ashley wiggled herself against Mark so her body fit against his. With a quick squeeze from the sleeping big spoon acknowledging her presence the duo fell fast asleep once again. 

Ashley was awoken by a faint grumble from directly behind her head as well as a muffled buzzing. Mark’s alarm was now attempting to awake them. She felt Mark begin to stretch his legs and immediately stop, just as she had earlier.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry.” Mark blushed as he released his grip from Ashley’s waist. He rolled to his back placing his hands on his face in an attempt to rub the sleep from his eyes and to hide the pink that had risen to his cheeks. His phone’s nine o’clock alarm was ignored long enough and snoozed itself. 

“Whatever, I don’t know about you, but I slept like a log this morning. No need to apologize.” Ashley immediately put Mark at ease about waking up spooning his assistant and rolled to her left side propping her head up with her arm to face Mark. “well, maybe you need to apologize for poking me before you rolled over.” Ashley chuckled, directing her gaze to Mark’s lower half and back again. 

“Ah, shit…Sorry…” Mark replaced his hands on his face once more and pulled his knees up trying to hide his uninvited erection.

Ashley laughed. “Mark, don’t worry about it, you’re a guy, it happens. I’m just giving you shit.” she said with a shrug and sat up to take a drink from the water glass beside her. 

“I’m still embarrassed and apologizing though.” Mark started, sitting up himself now. “How are you so chill and easygoing about everything?” 

“Dunno, I’m just awesome.”

Mark and Ashley spent the rest of the morning looking through the photos she had taken the day before and snacking on leftover food from their dinner. 

“Did Make-A-Wish get a time figured out with the families for this afternoon yet?” Ashley asked Mark who was now sitting at the small desk checking on that day’s videos. 

“Uhmmm… yup, I need to be there at 4:15 today.” Mark answered, checking his phone for the requested info. 

“Perfect, I want to go see the old ships in the harbor.” She said matter of factly “Get dressed and request an Uber, you’re coming with. I came all the way to Boston to help you out, it’s the least you can do.”

Mark put up a lame protest, Ashley didn’t buy his “but I’m afraid of the ocean” argument one bit. She told him to suck it up, they’re anchored. They giggled throughout the hour long guided tour around the restored ships and exhibits. 

“I don’t know why I made you pay to go on that tour, I should have just asked you all about it. Seeing that you’re all knowing about American history.” Ashley poked fun at Mark

“Wait, you know about that? That video is from way before I knew you.” 

“I might not watch all of your videos, God knows I get enough of you during the day without that.” His assistant laughed. “But I’ve gotta stay informed somehow. I try to watch anything that’s a vlog or a non let’s play video. You tend to come up with ideas on they fly or forget to tell me things, but say them in those videos. Let’s just say I went down the rabbit hole on your channel a few times and ended up in some weird places. You’re weird man.”

“Huh… wow, you really do keep up with everything that’s going on with me. Thanks, I really mean that.” 

After a quick stop at a small coffee shop, the duo made their way back to the hotel so Mark could get ready to meet with a few Make A Wish kids and their families and then meet up with Sean and Wade for their panel later that evening. 

“I’m gonna stay here I’ve got some emails to catch up on, and I’ve gotta get ahold of a friend back home. She’s getting married later this year and want’s to know if I’ll do her flowers.” Ashley said immediately checking back into her assistant role, from the happy go lucky tourist. “I’ll meet you boys in the hall for the panel.” 

“Sounds good, I’m sure you know, but it’s in the Albatross Theatre.” Mark said as he made his way towards the door

“Camera, take your camera. At least mini vlog the kids you meet, they’ll appreciate that.” She told him, without even looking up to see if he had the camera or not. She knew him well enough to know that he didn’t even think of it. 

“Good call, you’re amazing. You sticking around out here has turned out to be a great thing. See ya in a bit!” 

And with that, Mark was on his way. Ashley decided to hop into the shower to relax a bit before calling her best friend from back home in Wisconsin. 

The warm water and steam from the shower was exactly what she needed. A quick moment to relax. As she stood under the constant stream of water a thought that she had never had popped into her head that she couldn’t shake. She was having a lot of fun with Mark. 

“Do I like him?” She said, not knowing if she said the words out loud or not, thankful that she was alone in the room. “No, you’ve just been spending more time with him… cuddling this morning was amazing though… is he cute?...oh god, knock it off… he’s your boss...” the flood of thoughts poured through her mind as the water began to cool. Ashley stepped out of the shower, and got redressed for the evening before calling her best friend to work out details about flowers to distract her. 

The two girls knew each other so well, that Ashley knew exactly what Rachel wanted in no time allowing them to catch up on gossip. Rachel knew who her friend worked for now that she wasn’t a full time florist. 

“Quit avoiding it, boys. Tell me about boys!” Rachel demanded 

Ashley sighed, she should have called before her shower, the thought that was rattling around her brain wouldn’t be there. She couldn’t lie to her friend, but tried her best to beat around the bush.   
“There’s a guy, there’s nothing going on, but I think I’ve got a thing for him. I’m still trying to figure it out.” 

“It’s Mark isn’t it.” Rachel said bluntly. Even over the phone she could read Ashley like a book. 

“Maybe…” Ashley barely squeaked out before spinning around in the desk chair, trying to shake off the thought. She thought that maybe physically spinning around would launch the craziness from her head. Though before Rachel could respond Ashley caught the time.  
“Aaah! I’ve gotta go, it’s six, I was supposed to be across the street by now.”

“Fine, but we’re talking later, call me again!” 

They said their goodbyes and Ashley grabbed her bag and hustled to the theatre hall. 

When she made it past the groups of disappointed fans that didn’t make it into the panel, the man guarding the doors let her through and let her know there was an empty seat up front for her. Ashley snuck along the wall towards the front of the large room and was thankful that the boys had already started playing some goofy card game so no one paid her any attention until she had to cross in front of a handful of people in the front row to get to her seat. She must have caught Mark’s attention as this happened because when she looked up at the stage as she sat down and stored her oversized bag they made eye contact and he gave her a grin and a half wave.   
She smiled back and blushed. “Did I just blush? What am I, a middle schooler? I’m almost thirty” Ashley sighed and decided to distract herself by snapping photos of the trio of friends up on the stage making fools of themselves. 

After few rounds of Funemployment, the game they decided to play it was now time for them to answer some questions from the audience. Luckily this year they had people submit questions to a twitter account so they could be screened and it prevented the same questions being asked multiple times. Ashley pretty much zoned out the chatter and focused on taking photos, but one question caught her attention when Wade read it outloud. 

“This one’s for Mark,” Wade began.” Loved seeing the sketch with SuperMega, any more plans for more? Also, who was girl in the sketch, she was hilarious!! Less that three, heart thingie.” 

Before Mark could begin answering Sean jumped in. “That’s just Marks giiiiiirlfriend.” 

With those four sing-songy words Mark shot his green haired friend quite the look and Wade’s mouth fell open. And, the room had no idea how to react. 

“Oh God, no.” Sean started and spotted Ashley in the front row, shooting him the same look he was getting from Mark. “Ashley’s gonna kill me. People, people I’m joking, they’re just friends, I promise!!” he tried his best to convince the room of his joke that didn’t go quite as planned. 

Mark finally spoke with a laugh “you’re right, I think she is going to kill you, now because you told everyone her name.”   
Ashley could sense the crowd was realizing that she, the girl in question was in the room with them, and blushed again. She could feel her anonymity crumbling.

Mark and his friends were able to regain control of the room and answered a few more questions before wrapping up. Ashley made her way to the side of the stage to be let into the green room, as she was waiting for an event organizer to get to her, a few people tried to subtly snap a few photos of her without much success.

“You are such an asshole!” Ashley sternly directed at Sean as she entered the room, she punched him in the arm as she neared the trio, but couldn’t keep a straight face. “At least you didn’t tell them that I live with him, that would have opened another can of worms entirely!” 

Ashley’s ribbing of the Irishman prompted the others to join in giving him a hard time about any and everything before Mark suggested that they all grab a late dinner at the cool pizza place he spotted earlier while on the way back from the museum. 

After a dinner of far too much pizza and garlic knots, the group decided to walk the short distance to the waterfront. They stopped in a large open park on the shore just down from a group of chatting people to take in the view. 

“The city lights are gorgeous here, but I can’t wait to get home and see Chica. I miss her!” Ashley said to no one in particular. 

“Wonder how pupper is doing?” Mark asked

“I called to check in today, she’s good, she’s made friends with a chihuahua apparently.” Ashley laughed. 

They all idly chatted for a while longer before something caught Mark’s eye. “Woah, look at that huge ship! Come on!” He exclaimed and reached an arm out towards Ashley to get her to follow, she didn’t realize that she was to follow him quickly enough so he grabbed his assistants hand and the two began jogging away towards the source of his excitement laughing. Leaving Sean and Wade behind. They decided that their friends were long gone so Wade texted Mark telling him to have fun and that he he and Sean were gonna head back. 

“Those two are so hooking up when they get back to their room, they’ve been giving each other googly eyes all weekend.” Sean told Wade as they walked the route back to the hotel. 

“Wait, their room? They’re in the same room? This is news to me.”

“Yeah, the hotel’s in the area were booked up, so she crashed in his room. To the best of my knowledge they’re sharing a bed too.” Sean gossiped. 

“Oh boy, breakfast should be interesting in the morning.” Wade laughed.


	8. Overnight

“Looks like Wade and Jack left us.” Mark said after reading the text message that had just arrived on his phone. 

“Lame, they’re really missing out, look at the huge ship they’re not seeing.” Ashley laughed at the sight of the small tug boat Mark had mistaken for something much more majestic. 

“Shut it, the lights on the water made it look bigger.” Mark huffed and kicked at the ground with a boyish pout, not able to completely mask the chuckle he was having at his own expense. “I suppose we should head back too, I still need to pack.”

“Wanna walk or should I request a car?” Ashley asked as they made their way back across the shoreside park towards the main road. 

“Let’s walk, it’s not that far and it’s nice out.” Mark answered “How’d flower planning go earlier?

Ashley was thankful for the dark night sky as she remembered her conversation with her friend Rachel earlier and blushed. “Oh, it went great, we’re pretty much all set until I get there in October, which will be tons of fun, no one but Rachel and her fiance know I’m coming into town, we’re letting everyone think I’ll be stuck out in LA. I haven’t really seen anyone from back home in a long time.” 

“Nice, just let me know when you’re going so I’m prepared to survive on my own while you’re away.” Mark laughed.

“I’ll give you plenty of notice.”

After a few more blocks filled with chatter about what goes into wedding flowers, and a horror story about a crazy bride, they made it back to their hotel. Once back to their room the packing commenced. Ashley laid the outfit she planned on traveling with ontop of her suitcase, the same one she flew to Boston in, well worn skinny jeans and a tshirt, then made her way to the bathroom to get ready for bed. When she emerged with a freshly washed face and long hair up in a messy bun she found Mark already under the fluffy feather duvet on the bed. She flipped the room’s overhead light off allowing the soft blue glow from Mark’s laptop to fill the room, and crawled under the duvet herself. 

“Thanks for being an idiot, so I had to save your ass. I had fun this weekend.” Ashley said as she adjusted the overstuffed pillows behind her head as she settled in for that night’s entertainment. 

“I’m glad my absent mindedness could be of assistance for you.” Mark smiled. “I had fun too, I doubt I would have left the hotel and convention hall had you not been here, thanks.”

“Eh, I just tried to make the most of the impromptu cross-country trip.” She shrugged. 

Mark pressed play and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. began to play on the screen situated between their legs. 

The combination of all the fresh air that day and the comfortable bed was no match for Ashley and she quickly began to doze off. Still in a half sitting position the now asleep assistant leaned towards Mark, the source of warmth next to her and rested her head on his shoulder, catching him by surprise. After fighting to stay awake to watch the rest of the movie playing in front of him, he gently closed his laptop and set it on his nightstand, trying to not disturb the sleeping body nestled next to him. After making sure his alarm was set for the next morning he fluffed his pillows behind him.

“How could I disturb you? You look so peaceful.” Mark whispered as he looked down at Ashley. “And beautiful.” he sighed. It wasn’t the first time he’d thought that but with her snuggled up next to him made it hard to brush it off. Not wanting to push his boundaries he began to give into his tiredness once more and tried to forget about the nagging thought he had that was telling him to kiss her goodnight. 

At six fifteen the next morning they were awoken by Mark’s cellphone chirping from his nightstand. At some point overnight they had ended up on their own sides of the bed but each had a foot outstretched towards the other. 

After taking turns in the bathroom to get ready for the day they began collecting the remainder of their belongings and packed them up. Then headed to the lobby to meet up with Sean and Wade for breakfast. 

“Got everything?” Mark asked as he held the door up for Ashley as she shuffled through the hotel room door past him. 

“Yup, think so. Lock ‘er up.” Ashley shifted her small rolling carryon from one hand to the other once in the hallway. They were just meeting the others in the hotel’s lounge for their goodbye breakfast but Ashley knew they’d more than likely lose track of time and didn’t want to risk running late for their flight because they needed to run back up to their room for luggage, so she suggested checking it at the bell desk. After checking out of their room they met Sean and Wade in the bustling lounge. 

There wasn’t much time to enjoy their meals before Sean had to head to the Airport. Wade’s flight was departing around the same time so they were sharing a cab. As Ashley was giving Sean a hug goodbye, all she could do was laugh at what she was asked.   
“So, you guys bang yet?”

“Really, dude?” is all she could muster between her laughter. 

“What a guy can’t be curious? That didn’t answer my question either.” 

“What question?” Mark asked from beside them.

“Nothing, your boy’s just being a smart ass.” Ashley responded. 

After a few more goodbyes and safe travel well wishes Wade and Sean started making their way towards the front of the lounge. “Still didn’t answer my question!” the Irishman turned and directed towards Ashley. 

“Nope, I didn’t, goodbye!” She said sing-songy 

He laughed “Bye! Wait, you didn’t answer, or you didn’t….”

“Bye!” Ashley responded again leaving him hanging. 

“What the hell did he ask you?” Mark asked as he sat back down at their now half empty table. 

“He asked me if we had ‘banged’ yet.” She shook her head with a laugh.

“Oh jeeze.” 

“Yeah…. And I thought I’d let him stew in his immaturity for the next fifteen or so hours hours, and leave him hanging.”

“Ooof, you’re mean.” Mark laughed.


	9. Wingin' It

“We’re all checked in, we don’t need to stop at the counter, just curbside check my bag when we get there.” Mark said matter of factly as they neared the airport.

“Technology is great, I love being able to use my phone as a boarding pass.” Ashley answered. 

Once they gathered their bags from the trunk of their taxi and got Marks bag checked in, Ashley began pulling up her mobile boarding pass on her phone to get through security. 

“Wait, this boarding pass has CVG as a destination, what the hell?” Ashley directed towards Mark in a half panic, half I don’t want to deal with this shit tone. 

“Yup.” Mark replied like it was no big deal

“Wait, yours says that too” Ashley peaked at Mark’s phone screen. “What’d you do?” 

“Well, with all your talking about going home to Wisconsin this fall, I thought we’d stop in Cincinnati for a few days.” all he could do was shrug.

“And you’re telling me now? How’d? Ugh, this is the last time I let you book your own flights!” 

“I thought it’d be a fun break from work, plus I’d like you to meet some of my family. Sorry… I didn’t think you’d be upset. I’m sure we can find another flight back to LA.” Mark hoped he hadn’t angered Ashley too much. “I wanted to surprise you, I found a flight yesterday evening.”

“It’s not that I’m mad, just… this was kinda sprung on me. I don’t have enough clothes for more days away. Does anyone know we’re coming.” Ashley asked, not allowing herself to get too worked up about this. Mark was just trying to be spontaneous. 

“Nope, Markimoo’s winging it!” 

“Lovely” Ashley rolled her eyes.

The pair made it through security quickly, and picked seats near the window at their gate. Ashley flipped into assistant mode and began doing what she did every Sunday morning, check social media. This check up was more important than others because she wanted to see what everyone thought of the events Mark took place in over the weekend, and not just see what everyone was gossiping about or ‘shipping’ that week. 

“What are the fucking chances?” Ashley mumbled to herself.

“Care to elaborate miss sunshine?”

The assistant ran her fingers through her long hair and sighed before beginning. “Remember that group of giggling girls at the waterfront last night? They knew who you guys were and overheard me saying that I couldn’t wait to get home to see Chica, before we ran off together... hand in hand. They took pictures. Tumblr is losing its shit.”

“Well shit, so I’m guessing they think-” 

“I’m your live-in girlfriend. And now they’re all taking what Sean said during your panel very seriously. I am no longer ‘just a friend.’ They’ve decided that not only do I live with you, we’re sleeping together.” 

“Well they’re not completely wrong.” Mark laughed

“What?” Ashley shot him a look.

“Well you do live with me, and we have been sleeping together the past few nights.”

His flustered assistant playfully hit him in the arm. “You know what they mean. Well I guess a few days hidden away in Cincinnati might be a good, give it a chance to hopefully die down.” She took a sip of her coffee that she made Mark buy her after she found out they were not headed directly home. “Don’t think they’ve found me online yet, I haven’t had an influx of friend requests yet.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine, let them chatter. If anything it’ll keep some of them from obsessing over ‘Septiplier’ now that everyone thinks I’m with a real live girl!” They both laughed, easing Ashley’s tension about the whole thing.

Ashley really didn’t know what to think of the whole thing. She never intended to be ‘known’ on the internet, she knew it was always a possibility because of what she did for a living now. She just wished it was on her own terms, and not through gossip. After reading a handful of untruths and gossip about herself online, though luckily mostly positive, she snapped back into her assistant role to take her mind off of it. There was nothing she could do now but roll with the punches. 

“So, wingin’ it Markimoo, what’cha gonna do about videos while we’re away? Which is how long exactly?” Ashley questioned as she flipped her planner open. 

“Good question, good question indeed. Since I’m wingin’ it, no fucking clue for both questions. I’m sure I can track down an animation or two, and I think I’ve got some VR stuff that hasn’t gone up yet, but I thought I could do some BS vlogging along the way. No idea how long we’re staying either, I didn’t book return flights yet, just a few days though.”

“Ugh, you really are the worst at planning things out, thank god you’ve got me. Did you call the kennel and tell them that they’ll have Chica for a few more days?” 

“Yup, I actually did that! I called and left a message while you were getting ready this morning and I got an email from them a little bit ago.” 

The gate agent began calling out boarding procedures and the duo made their way onto the plane. 

“Oh I see how it it is, you booked us in first class to try to soften the blow, had I not been willing to roll with your punches.” Ashley poked fun as she situated herself in the overstuffed chair towards the front of the plane. 

“Well yeah, is it working?” Mark laughed “That and I saw I had a bunch of miles that were going to expire in a few months, so I thought ‘Why not?’” 

“See, this is why you’re not in charge of things, I was going to use those to get you out to New York for the Creators Summit in a few weeks.”

“Whoops…” Mark said with a shrug. 

“Eh, your money either way.” Ashley laughed. “I’m gonna catch up on some podcasts, poke at me if you need me.” She then settled into her seat and put her noise canceling headphones on. 

A few hours later, once the pair made it off their plane to gather their luggage, Ashley began to question where they actually were. 

“So, this is called the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport, and Cincinnati is listed first, but we’re in Kentucky not Ohio? Weird…”

“Yeah… Just go with it, I get why there isn’t a non municipal airport in Cincy because this one is so close, but I dunno, it’s still weird.” Mark explained.

“Hmmm, crazy. I’m surprised your mom isn’t here to pick you up, I’m sure she’s excited to see you.”

“Well, you know how I said I was wingin’ it?” Mark started

“She doesn’t know you’re coming, let alone with a guest does she?” Ashley stopped in her tracks and sighed. 

“Nope, I thought I’d surprise her.”

“You’re big into surprises today aren’t you?”

They finally made their way into a cab and made their way across the Ohio River. After about a half hour in the cab they had made it to the front door of Mark’s mother’s house. Mark set their suitcases down and rang the doorbell, which promptly triggered an echo of dog barks from within the house. 

“Mark! What are you doing here? Hello!” A petite, dark haired woman greeted him with a huge hug at the door. “Who is this pretty girl?” She immediately dropped her hug and directed her attention to Ashley.

“Mom, you know how I said I had someone helping me stay organized, and help me with a bunch of stuff, this is her, Ashley. Mom, Ashley, Ashley, Mom.” Mark introduced the two women to each other. 

“Very nice to finally meet you Mrs. Fischbach, I’ve heard a lot of wonderful stories about you.” Ashley set their carryon bags down on the steps to shake Mark’s mother’s hand. 

“Call me Hyun-joo or just Hyun, please. No need for formalities. Come in, come in, make yourself comfortable.” She began reaching for the bags Ashley had been carrying and directed her inside, all but ignoring her son now. 

“Can I come inside too? Jeeze, glad to see you too mom.” Mark laughed and followed them inside. 

After catching his mother up on some of his recent happenings and how he and his assistant ended up in Cincinnati, he asked Ashley when she wanted to go buy some more clothes for their impromptu vacation. 

“Whenever is fine, since any agenda I had set for this week has been thrown out the window.” Ashley laughed. 

“You bring her here and she has no clothes? You’re horrible!” Mark’s mother scolded him. 

“I’m just giving him a hard time, I had only packed a few day’s worth of clothes for my trip out to Boston, and ended up staying longer than expected, now I’m here. I just need a few things to get me through the few days we’re here.”

“Well, take my car when you want to go. I’m going to go let the dogs out. Mark, take your stuff upstairs and show Ashley around.” 

“She really likes you apparently.” Mark laughed after his mother left the room, “she’s hardly said two words to me, but talked your ears off.” He stood up. “I’ll show you where everything is.

“I’m chatty too, she just wanted to get to know me, she’s nice.” Ashley stood to follow. 

Mark lead her around the living areas of the house before grabbing their bags and heading down the hall toward the bedrooms. 

“This was my room, it’s pretty empty now, just a bed, desk, and dresser. You can take the bed in here, I’ll go grab the blow up mattress from the basement later.” 

“We don’t have to go shopping today, you can catch up with your mom, we can go some other time.” Ashley said as she set her suitcase down on the bed. 

“No, let’s go now if that’s fine. I’ll need some stuff too. I didn’t pack any shampoo and I’ve been meaning to pick up some more socks.”

After Ashley reorganized her purse out of travel mode, and pulled her long hair into a messy bun, they said goodbye to Mark’s mom and headed to Target.

“Remember to vlog a bit.” Ashley reminded Mark as they pulled into the parking lot. 

“Thanks, I almost forgot.”

“That’s why I’m here!” Ashley grinned with exaggeration. 

“Wanna make them really talk in the comments? Everyone’s already seen you, and a bunch of people saw you in person this weekend, mind if you’re in the vlog too?” Mark questioned with caution as he stepped out of the car. 

“Hmmm… I suppose they do know my name and know what I look like now. This is either going to fuel the fire, or smother it after they see that I’m in your hometown with you. Fuck it, vlog away.” Ashley was beginning to come to terms with her days of anonymity were nearly over. “You can decide if I’m just a friend, or your assistant though. Just don’t say anything about the fact we live together please.”

“Gotcha!” 

Mark pulled his phone out as they walked towards the front of the store and began recording video. “I’m in Cincinnati! I decided to stop at home for a few days after Pax East before heading back to LA, and I’ve dragged my friend Ashley along with me! Say hi!” he panned the phone towards Ashley who had been just off screen prior. 

“Hi!” Ashley smiled and waved towards the lens.

“Well, yeah. I just wanted to let you all know that I’m stupid and didn’t actually plan this trip so I don’t have any videos for the days we’re here, so….you get horribly uninteresting vlogs! Yay! Would you like to explain why we’re at Target?” 

“Oh, would I ever! Gimme!” Ashley reached for the phone. 

“Oh no… here we go…” Mark chuckled and handed over his phone, then stopped off to the side of the front door of Target to sit on a bench. Ashley sat next to him making sure they were both in frame. 

“Let’s start at the beginning shall we? Last week Mark called me in a panic because he forgot an important package at his house that he should have brought with him to Pax, and the only way for it to get there in time was for me to fly from LA to Boston with it. So, I red-eyed it there only planning on staying for the day before heading back to California. BUT Jack, convinced me to stay through the convention.”

“Wow, you really are starting at the beginning, beginning aren’t you?” Mark interjected from behind Ashley.

“Yup! So, now the convention was over yesterday and I left this guy back here in charge of booking return flights for the two of us for this morning, and he springs on me this morning at the airport that we’re going to spend a few days in Cincinnati. Which ok, whatever, my fun adventure continues. But remember how I said I was only planning to stay in Boston for not even a day? I don’t have any clothes with me! Well, Three outfits worth, this one I’m wearing, a fancier business dress outfit, and another t shirt and jeans… yeah. I’ve now made my friend here take me to Target so I can get a few more shirts and shit.” 

“It’s not like I have a lot packed either!” Mark put on a fake pout.

“Whatever, you rotate through eight shirts, four pairs of pants and a handful of shorts… you have half of that with you. You’ll live!” Ashley jabbed back before Mark took his phone back from her.

“Ok, guys remind me to not let her have free reign on vlogs while I’m here… wow, vicious!” He laughed. “Anyway, just thought I’d let you all know where the regular content is for the next few days. Bye!” Mark signed off with his signature wave and smile. 

“You don’t have to upload that, you can record something different later, I was just giving you a hard time.” Ashley explained to Mark as he put his phone back in his pocket and got up from the bench.

 

“No, I definitely will, you were great, gives people a real look at your personality. Plus you explained why you were at Pax.” He shrugged. “Let’s go get you some shirts and shit.” he laughed, mimicking what his assistant had said. 

Mark sat on a tiny stool outside of the fitting room, while Ashley tried on a handful of casual clothes. As she exited the cubicle Mark’s phone began to ring. 

“Mom, I know you do… you’re crazy you know that right?... Ok, I’ll ask her… well, that’s not very subtle at all… you’re still crazy though… love you too, bye.” Was all Ashley heard from Mark’s end of the conversation. 

Ashley placed a few items back on the attendant's desk and inquired about the call. “Your mom?”

“Yeah, she’s nuts. She’s absolutely crazy about you, which is good I suppose… but that means that she’s convinced I need to take you out to a nice dinner while we’re here, so she made us a reservation for tomorrow night so I can wine and dine you, and told me I needed to buy you a pretty dress to wear, but not actually tell you about it because it’s supposed to be a surprise.” Mark shook his head before continuing. “She’s entering into the ‘I’m desperate for my boy’s to settle down’ phase of her life, so she’s jumpy about it… we don’t need to go if you don’t want to.”

“I like your mom, I could use a new dress.” Ashley laughed. “Plus, I do think you owe me a nice dinner for all this ridiculousness. Plus, it’ll make your mom happy, I’m all for making mom’s happy.”

Once back in the car, they found directions to the nearest Nordstrom department store. Ashley found a beautiful knee length purple floral jacquard, fit and flare dress, but wasn’t going to let Mark actually pay for for it. 

 

“Mark, it’s too expensive, I can’t let you buy this for me, I’ll find something else, I didn’t realize who the designer was when I tried it on.”

“No, you need it, it looks amazing on you. It can’t be that expensive, let me see.” Ashley spun around so Mark could look at the tag hanging at her back, he stumbled a bit, and grabbed her waist to stable himself when he saw the price. “Holy shit, wow… umm..”

“Like I said, I’ll find something else, you’re not paying $700 for a Badgley Mischka dress for me, help me out of this so I can go look some more.” 

Mark unhooked the tiny clasp between her shoulder blades and began to slide the tiny black zipper down, his hand lingered a bit longer than necessary, and was glad she was facing away from him so he could hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks. 

Now back in the privacy of her fitting room Ashley slumped against the wall, trying to convince herself that she did not infact feel Mark’s hand linger as he unzipped the dress. She changed back into her jeans, hung the expensive dress on the reject rack and resumed her search. Mark told her, he was quite comfortable in the leather chairs near the fitting rooms, and stayed behind. 

Once Ashley was around the corner and out of sight, he snatched the dress off of the ‘to go back’ rack and made his way toward a register. 

With a large black garment bag slung over his shoulder he made his way back toward his assistant who was sorting through another section of cocktail dresses. 

“Hey, think you can find a pair of shoes here too?” Mark asked as he approached. 

Without looking up she replied “That’s the plan, just gotta find a dress first.” 

“You did, here.” He lifted his arm to reveal more of the garment bag. 

“You didn’t… please tell me you didn’t.”

“I did, you were fucking beautiful in it, how have I never realized how beautiful you were until now?” He thought to himself before actually responding to Ashley. “I did, it looked great on you, I know you loved it. Plus, my mom will want to look at the receipt to prove that I actually payed for it, this will make her very happy.” 

“Well it makes me, very happy. Thank you.” Ashley gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. They both hoped the other didn’t notice they were blushing. 

Ashley quickly found a pair of silver ankle strap heels and a small clutch to go with her dress before they made their way back across town to relax the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Mark's mom's name probably isn't Hyun-Joo, but I didn't want to call her 'Momiplier' or 'Mrs. Fischbach' the entire story, so I picked a Korean name I liked, and went with it. 
> 
> I also know that the Nordstrom in Cincinnati doesn't carry Badgley Mischka, but for the sake of being able to have an expensive dress, they do.
> 
>  
> 
> ***To add, I've started writing the next chapter and we're finally going to get some action between Mark & Ashley, but I haven't written smut in a LONG time and I want to make sure it's something worth reading so it might be a little bit before I get back into the swing of things. But I'm super excited to advance these two's relationship!
> 
> -IRNO


	10. Call Me Insane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, I updated this!  
> Between being unsure of getting back into writing smut, and life getting in the way. I finally felt compelled to continue this. I really enjoyed where the story was going and had a plan to continue it. After such a long gap in time I've figured out how to move forward with this plot. 
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me! I'm gonna finish outlining the next few chapters starting, NOW! 
> 
> ~~

After spending the rest of the afternoon, into the evening relaxing on the couch, wandering around outside with the dogs and a delicious meal from Mark’s mom, she excused herself to get ready for work, it was one of her two nights a month she had to work an overnight rotation at the hospital. She made sure that both Mark and Ashley were set for the evening and headed off to work.

“If you’re still cool with it I’m gonna hit publish on the video from today.” Mark looked over to Ashley who was sitting on an overstuffed armchair beside the couch where he sat.

“Click away, I could use a bit more excitement in my life.” She said from over the top of her own laptop before closing it to stand. “I’m exhausted though, I planned on sleeping on a much longer flight today, I’m gonna go get ready for bed and lie down. Have a good rest of your night.”

“G’night.” Mark smiled as Ashley made her way down the hallway of his mother’s house.

Ashley washed her face, brushed her teeth and changed into the new pajama set she had picked out earlier that day before the black garment bag hanging on a hook in the bathroom caught her eye. She unzipped it and ran her hand down the delicate purple floral embroidery. Her mind jumped to earlier when Mark had surprised her with it, a huge smile flashed across her face as well as the now ever present blush on her cheeks that arose whenever she thought of Mark the past few days.

She made her way across the hall back toward Mark’s former bedroom to lie down, only to find Mark at the foot of the bed.

“Oh, woah, you startled me, I didn’t expect you in here, what’s up?” She questioned.

“I realized I’m tired too, but I really wanted to make sure you knew I wanted to buy you that dress today, not because my mom told me I needed too. But, because you loved it, you deserved it for all you do for me, and there was no way in hell I could stand knowing how you looked in in, but would never get see you in it again.” Mark blurted out, almost too quickly before rising to his feet.

“Mark I-” Ashley began before being interrupted by Mark.

“Let me say this, please. Then you can tell me I’m insane.” He took a deep breath. “I can’t stop thinking about you, I haven’t since right after I left for Boston last week. It has taken almost everything to keep from kissing you.” Looking at his feet now “Ok, you can explain to me why I’m crazy now.”

After a few beats of silence, without a word, Ashley took three steps forward toward Mark, now almost toe to toe, placed a hand on either side of his face tilting it up toward hers. Now resting forehead to forehead, she kissed him. Any tension that was lingering within them now gone.

Mark hastily wrapped his arms around Ashley, cradling the back of her neck with one hand, the other bringing closing the gap still left between their bodies, deepening their kiss.

She pressed her body into Mark’s, he stumbled backward, releasing his grip, he fell back onto the bed, sitting where this all started.

“That is not the response I was expecting at all.” The flustered redhead smiled.

“Part of me wanted to lecture you about how this was all crazy, and it’s just because everyone has been trying to force us together. But another part of me, that I can’t suppress anymore has wanted to do that for days. I thought I was being the crazy one.” She reached forward to grab his hand. “This is absolutely stupid though, just so you know.” this made them both crack a smile.

“Come’ere.” Mark tugged on Ashley’s arm, laying back on the bed and pulling her on top of himself in one swift movement.

Now straddling him, she leaned down pressing her body into his and began passionately kissing him, moving from his lips, onto his earlobe giving it a quick nibble before continuing onto his neck and stopping at his pronounced collar bone.

Tugging on the collar of his t-shirt “This is in the way.”

“Mmhmmm, agreed.” Mark practically growled before Ashley leaned back allowing him to pull his shirt over his head. Before the shirt could hit the floor, Ashley’s hands had made their way to his chest.

“Much better.” She said with a devious grin.

Mark then rolled over, bringing Ashley with. From his new vantage point from on top of Ashley he stopped for a moment to take in the sight below him before moving to smother her waist with kisses that was now exposed by her bunched up camisole. As he ran his arms up her sides, dragging the soft fabric with, she raised her arms above her head. The thin strapped top was quickly moved past her fingertips to join Mark’s shirt on the floor.

Now, with Mark directly above her with a muscular arm on either side of her shoulders she ran a gentle hand down his chest, between his pecs, past his belly button and was joined by her other hand at the heavy metal button at the waist of his jeans. A groan escaped Mark’s lips, and Ashley made quick work of his jeans. She began rubbing the length of Mark’s erection though the tight fabric of his boxer briefs before tightening her grip, causing him to thrust his hips into her hands.

Mark slid his body down Ashley’s torso leaving a trail of kisses down her body before wrapping his fingers in the waistband of her linen shorts, he began sliding them down her thighs, only pausing to kiss each hipbone.

Ashley, now completely naked, hooked an arm in Mark’s pulling him back up, greeting his lips with a passionate kiss. She buried her fingers in the tangles of hair at the top of his head and pulled slightly.

“Mmmm…” Mark purred with pleasure, grinding his still concealed erection into Ashley’s inner thigh.

“You are intoxicating.” She whispered into his ear, nipping at it along the way.

Mark, now supporting himself with one arm, found his way to the warmth growing between Ashley’s legs and began teasing at her entrance before plunging a finger into her.

Bucking her hips forward, he quickened his pace and began massaging her wet clit with his thumb.

“Fuck, I need you inside of me.” She begged, grabbing at the waistband of Mark’s boxer briefs.

Hearing these words escape Ashley’s mouth Mark immediately stood back up to remove his underwear. “Not much into foreplay, eh?”

Ashley bit at her lower lip and grinned up at Mark’s now completely naked perfect body, “Just thinking about you has me more than ready, I need you.” she arched her back in anticipation.  
As Mark began crawling back up Ashley’s body he hastily stopped. “Shit! I don’t have-”

“You clean? I’m clean…Pill, we’re good.” She panted from below him. “I’m not lying, this is a necessity.” grabbing his length and moving it to her slit, teasing them both.

She felt Mark slowly enter her and she moaned softly, raising her hips to meet his. “You feel amazing, Ashley” he whispered in her ear starting to thrust in and out of her. She wrapped a leg around his hips causing Mark’s thrusts to deepen. They both moaned in pleasure as they quickened the pace.  
Mark moaned into her ear once more sending her closer to the edge. “Mark. Yes. Fuck.” were the only words she could muster as she felt herself nearing climax.  
Hearing her moan his name nearly sent Mark over the edge, he slowed their movements, and tangled his fingers in her hair.  
“I’m going to-”  
“Yes!”  
“Oh, fuck.”  
“Ah!”  
They called out as Ashley wrapped her other leg around his back. Her orgasam washed over Mark as she tightened around him now deep within her, filling her up completely.  
Mark fell on top of her before sliding to her side. Neither of them wanted to leave the position they were in as they caught their breath and listened to each other's heart beats.

“You are incredible.” Mark finally spoke.  
“You’re just saying that because you just got laid.” Ashley chuckled at him, adjusting her position so she could look him in the eyes. “You’re not too bad yourself, Mark.”

After a few moments of taking each other in, Ashley excused herself to the clean up, being sure to grab her phone along the way.

Ashley: ...sex w/ mark @ his mom’s house…

She sat on the edge of the tub as she hoped for a quick response from Rachel, she was usually up late, It was only 10 o’clock in Wisconsin. She felt her phone vibrate in her hands.

Rachel: woo! Get it girl!

Ashley: he’s my boss! This was stupid…  
Ashley: AMAZING  
Ashley: but stupid AF!!! Ugh, so conflicted.  
Rachel: Relax, ur both adults, u r especially level headed, it’ll work out.  
Rachel: no matter what, promise.

Before Ashley could type a response, her friend sent another message.

Rachel: but wtf? Isn’t he from Ohio? Why are you in ohio?!!??

Ashley: Long story… i’ll call when i can tomorrow

Rachel: u better!! Love u! XX

Ashley: Love u too!

Now, happy to have gotten that off her chest to her best friend, she made her way back to Mark’s bedroom.

“Hey, I thought you ran away on me, I was about to come searching for you.” Said Mark from the middle of the bed, covers now pulled back.

“Ah… sorry.” She sat on the edge of the bed, placing her phone on the bedside table. “I remembered I had to get ahold of someone, so I quick did that.” not completely lying. “I thought, that’d be a complete mood killer.”

“You work too hard, do you ever switch off?” Mark spoke, gesturing for her to rejoin him at the middle of the bed. “Come’ere.”

“I would definitely call what just happened ‘switching off.’ And I only work as hard as you do, to keep up.” She settled back into the bed, immediately being pulled into Mark’s chest. She was finding it easier and easier to fall asleep next to Mark. Tonight especially.


End file.
